Emily Magpie

May Queen - Emily Magpie: Song & Visualizer Review

Vevna Forrow

Emily Magpie is an artist and producer based in Bristol, UK, who describes herself as “a weird witchy bedroom pop maker,” and I really love her style of music. We’ll be looking at her release from April 6th, titled “May Queen.” Firstly, I dig the visualizer for this, the B&W moon face clip, particularly from The Astronomer's Dream, aka La Lune à un mètre (1898), and the other full color film scene bits incorporated, an accordion playing, dance, caged costume wolf, etc., are a fun, lively touch to it, appearing between segments of Emily in a grass field and elegantly twirling around.

Just so you’re aware, according to Wikipedia, “May Queen” means:

"a girl who rides or walks at the front of a parade for May Day celebrations. She wears a white gown to symbolize purity and usually a tiara or crown.”

The song “May Queen” has a profound message about how women, or people in general, shouldn’t be told to look, dress, or act a certain way, or to go against what they feel in their heart. It’s important to forge your own path, and her song reminded me of the Anastasia (1997) film and Mulan (1998)—many other animated characters in time have demonstrated this, and real-life figures across history. The title may bring up thoughts of the movie Midsommar (2019) as well. Throughout “May Queen,” it is stressed with the question, “Is that all a girl needs?” —emphasizing that beauty is often what others think about; some men, particularly, have sadly tried to tell women where they belong, e.g., the household, at home, in the kitchen, bearing children, or in this case just on display on a throne, or bizarre ritualistic event etc. It is ok to give up the crown if it is not what one wants; no one should be forced into a role or place they don’t want.

The song made me think about the messages from “You Don’t Own Me” by Lesley Gore, “Sit Still, Look Pretty” by Daya, and also “Warpaint” from Kiiōtō’s most recent album, Black Salt, where it says: “paint a rosy smile upon my face.” It is not comfortable being paraded around; not everyone enjoys a 24/7 spotlight or being the binocular focus of an event they perhaps do not see the point of—it may be fun to some, but it may be actually very awkward or bizarre for women of all ages in such a situation or parade atmosphere of some kind. The song ends with “I will be the river,” once again cementing that one can be whatever they’d like in their life; they can flow in this world freely, be uncaged, take flight like a wild butterfly, choose a dance partner, disregarding the judgment and confused looks by ignorant people who will say it’s not proper behavior in society to break away from ancient traditions.

If you missed a share on one of our podcast series, my fave songs of Emily Magpie’s are “All is Silence,” “Last Train,” and “The Witching Hour.” To me, the “Witching Hour” is quite reminiscent of the vibes of “May Queen,” where it mentions the aspect of a woman holding “power.”

I can’t pinpoint by ear which instrument does the fabulous repeated click-clacking or snap back sound in “May Queen,” but the percussion work by Max Harrison, and the bass and synth work by Kieran Ball, is truly wonderful, plus flute work by Jess Maude-Roxby. It notes in the visualizer description that Joel Anthony Patchett did the mixing and Emily did the mastering of it.

I did enjoy the visualizer, though it would have been interesting if the river or a natural water element was more apparent or if Emily had a video of herself unhappy in a parade of some sort, leaving a throne or walking past people who disapprove of her tossing away her crown, finding joy, and fleeing to become one with the river and free of any showcase and exhibition eyes, essentially. Nevertheless, the song with Emily’s vocals is enchanting, well-balanced, and extremely calming to listen to. In terms of the rating, from me, I think it needed a little bit more punchiness to it to drive home that fierce parade exit message of “NO WAY MAN,” through the song much more firmly. Still, some may absolutely enjoy the chiller, softer nature of this release—an angry or aggressive tone is not always necessary to carry a point across, of course.

Memorable Lyrics:

"“I refuse

To be held by you

And a crown that you choose

Yeah, that look ain't cute”

RATING: 3.9 OUT OF 5

Remember to add "May Queen" your playlist(s) and take a look at Emily Magpie's music out on these channels or your preferred streaming platform, find them @emilymagpieyeah on Instagram and elsewhere.